Chocolate Almond and Pear Tart Recipe
This Chocolate Almond and Pear Tart is a beautifully balance tart. It has a buttery and crisp sweet pastry base, a rich, soft chocolate frangipane filling and it is topped with soft, sweet poached pears.
For this tart, you can make everything from scratch, or you can buy in some things to make it a bit easier. You can make your own sweet pastry (my sweet pastry recipe here) or you can also use store bought for this. Just Rol sells an excellent sweet shortcrust pastry, as does Irish brand Rollit which is available in Supervalu and will be available in the Simply Better range soon in Dunnes Stores. Similarly with the poached pears, you can make your own (recipe for my vanilla poached pears here) or you can buy canned pears. If you go for the canned variety, I would advise you to grab 2 cans to make sure you have enough pear.
So how do I make this Chocolate Almond and Pear Tart from scratch?
This decadent tart can be made in just a few easy steps;
- Line tart tin with pastry
- Chocolate frangipane
- Top and Bake
Line tart tin with pastry
Whether you decide to make your own pastry or buy in premade, this recipe starts off the same which is by lining the tart tin.
Take your chilled pastry and place onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out evenly to about the thickness of a coin. Line up your tin to make sure you have rolled it out wide enough to cover the bottom of the tin and the sides. Lightly dust the top of the pastry with flour. Using a rolling pin, gently roll the pastry onto the pin. Gently lift the rolling pin over the tart tin and unroll it carefully. Lift the sides of the pastry up and gently press into the corners. Once you have fitted the pastry into the corners, press into the edges of the pastry to trim the excess off. You can use a sharp knife for this too.
Place into the fridge to chill while you prepare the chocolate frangipane filling.
Chocolate Frangipane
This is a super simple almond frangipane recipe flavoured with dark chocolate. Frangipane is a soft almond cake like batter.
To make this chocolate frangipane, we begin by adding the room temperature butter and sugar. Beat this together for 2-3 minutes until pale and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the eggs and mix again for a further minute or two until combined. Stir in the almond essence and ground almonds and continue mixing for 1-2 minutes. Add in the dark chocolate and mix for another 1-2 minutes until all the chocolate has been incorporated.
Transfer all of the chocolate frangipane into the raw, unbaked pastry shell and spread around evenly.
Top and Bake
To finish off this chocolate frangipane tart, we simply have to slice the poached pear in an attractive way. I chose to slice into the pear halves, leaving them attached a little at the top and fan the slices out. I placed around 6 halves around the edges while I placed one in the center. You can of course slice the pears fully and arrange them that way on top, taking care not to completely cover the surface. Scatter some flaked almonds over the uncovered chocolate frangipane and you’re ready to bake!
Bake for 45-60 minutes until the tart has risen and cooked. The pastry should be a nice golden brown too. To check if it is ready, gently lift up a pear slice, if it still looks very wet underneath it needs a little longer.
Allow to cool slightly before cutting to serve.
Leftovers can be cooled and placed into an airtight container or wrapped tightly and kept at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! Portion any leftovers into slices. Wrap each slice in clingfilm or place into an airtight container or ziploc bag. Freeze for up to 3 months. To defrost, remove a slice from the freezer and leave at room temperature for 30-40 minutes until thawed.
Frangipane is made from creamed butter, sugar, ground almonds, eggs and sometimes almond essence and flour.
Chocolate frangipane is made from creamed butter, sugar, ground almonds, eggs, sometimes almond essence and either melted dark chocolate or cocoa powder.
Generally, I don’t blind bake my pastry for bakewell or frangipane tarts. This is because the frangipane takes 45-60 minutes to cook properly. The pastry would over cook if you blind baked it and baked it again with the frangipane. It is also a generally dry mix compared to a fruit filling so it doesn’t create a soggy base when cooking.
I would recommend only using poached or canned pears for this recipe. That is because they are precooked. Using fresh pears means they will cook in the oven and may leak a lot of liquid that could prevent the chocolate frangipane underneath from cooking properly.
For more Pastry Recipes, check out my Pastry Category, here.
Maybe you have lots of pears to use up? Take a peek at my Pear Recipes, here.
Chocolate Almond Pear Tart
Equipment
- 1 loose bottom tart tin
- 1 Rolling Pin
- 1 medium/large mixing bowl
- 1 Electric whisk or stand mixer with paddle attachment
- 1 small microwave safe bowl
- 1 Sharp Knife
Ingredients
- 1 batch sweet pastry homemade or store bought
Chocolate Frangipane
- 100 grams butter soft, room temperature
- 100 grams caster sugar
- 2 whole eggs
- 100 grams ground almonds
- 1 tsp almond essence
- 50 grams dark chocolate melted
- 3-4 whole poached pears
- 20 grams flaked almonds
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 170°c(340°f) or 160°c (320°f) if fan assisted.
- Lightly dust a clean work surface with flour. Roll out the sweet pastry in a large circle, around the thickness of a coin, making sure to turn the pastry often to prevent sticking.
- Carefully press the pastry into the edges of the tin and trim off the edges.
- Leave in the fridge while you prepare the filling.
- In a mixing bowl, add the butter and sugar and beat together for 2-3 minutes until pale and creamy.
- Add the eggs and mix again for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the ground almonds and almond essence and mix for 1 minute.
- Pour in the melted dark chocolate and continue mixing until combined, another 1-2 minutes.
- Pour the chocolate frangipane onto the raw pastry base. Spread around evenly.
- With a shape knife, cut each poached pear in half, lengthways down the middle. Trim off any stem or seeds left. Cut each pear half into slices, leaving a little uncut at the top so it stays together. Fan out the slices a little and place onto the chocolate frangipane. Repeat until the tart is covered, leaving a little space in between each pear half.
- Sprinkle flaked almonds over the frangipane.
- Bake for 45-60 minutes until the tart has risen and cooked. The pastry should be a nice golden brown too. To check if it is ready, gently lift up a pear slice, if it still looks very wet underneath it needs a little longer.
- Allow to cool slightly before cutting to serve.
- Leftovers can be cooled and placed into an airtight container or wrapped tightly and kept at room temperature for up to 5 days.
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